


down the hill, went Jack and Jill

by LittleLimey



Category: Life of the Party D&D (Web Series)
Genre: Broken Bones, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Major Character Injury, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:54:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23482750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleLimey/pseuds/LittleLimey
Summary: A shortcut goes wrong, and Elyse and Astra become separated from the rest of the party while injured. Elyse looks after Astra, trying to make their way through a bad situation without a healer.
Kudos: 18





	1. Chapter 1

The suggested town out for the party to head to was approximately two weeks travel when taking the main road, having to wind out into the valley that Shadebourne helmed and onto the route winding around the mountainside. But there was another path, according to Vanden’s map - it took a route directly alongside the peak of Shadebourne itself, above a valley between the mountain and the next hill along, which could cut their journey time by a whole week. Even though there was no time crunch to be felt on their backs, the party agreed it would be better to take the mountain trail, if only to reduce the risk of bandit attacks or wild creatures lashing out in the forests. They would be exposed, but so would anyone else who attempted to sneak up either on the path or from the sky. 

Packing up quickly, they made their way out of the city, finding the mountain path wrapping around the lower walls before peeling away to the side, hugging the mountain of Shadebourne. 

Soon the rest of the ground began to slope away from them, as they trudged higher and higher. Often Elyse found herself pausing, taking in the height they were reaching. With the steepness of the rocky slope underneath them, it felt like she was slowly ascending into the sky, the green carpet of the fields behind them and an ocean of trees flooding the narrow valley beside them. She could open her arms, close her eyes, capture the blustered breeze that raced after them, and pretend she was flying. But then Boblem or Astra would call her name, and she would hurry after the rest of the party. It was fine - she was at the back of the group, there was never any worry about someone walking into her back if she took just another second, just one more breath. 

So that was why she was at the back of the group. That was why she was able to watch the others walking ahead of her, Vanden pointing out a landmark to Sariel, Boblem asking how far up they’d climbed, Astra whistling a tune for everyone to enjoy.

That was why she noticed Astra’s ankle turn when he stepped off a displaced rock in the path. Why she noticed him fail to stabilise. Why she noticed him fall.

Lunging forward for him, Elyse grabbed his wrist. Now they were both falling, the path too narrow for her to have been able to dig her heels in and pull him up, but she had tricks up her sleeve. Wrapping the chain of her arcane focus around her arm she - BUMFH - both hit the rock slope, beginning to tumble. Astra was screaming, Elyse had her hair in her eyes and pain up her arm, but she focused her energy into the lightning blue gem and felt it surge into her body with lightning, swelling up and lifting her and Astra off from the ground to carry them into the air. That was certainly what she tried. But as they went up, she knew she’d timed herself wrong, that their combined weight was too heavy with this spell, and that because they’d hit the slope already, there was too much momentum and too much angle. Sailing out through the air, she thought of flying, and then she was turning over and the waves of leaves in that green ocean were rising rapidly towards her to drown her.

Elyse breathed. She coughed, groaned quietly when she felt her chest complain from having to move with inhaling. But she was certainly alive at least, and mostly intact. She was draped over a thick tree branch, her body having slumped over it and been caught in a fork to keep her up. Blinking slowly, she reminded herself what Khalev had told her to do whenever she fell from the crowsnest or one of the sails, whenever she fell from a height. Close her eyes. Breathe slowly. Move each limb one at a time to check for broken bones. Then begin to sit up and check the rest of the body. So she did, breathing in and out with careful ease. There had to be bruising on the ribs from that aching, probably when she’d crashed into the tree branch. Focusing on her body just from senses alone, she could feel patches of her arms that stung severely, and there was liquid dripping down her nose from her head. Scraping from the stone cliffside, and probably she’d cracked her forehead on the way down. Licking her lips, she opened her eyes again and focused on a point. When the branch didn’t sway like the ship deck, she took that as a decent sign. Maybe she had a concussion. She didn’t know. She didn’t care. Now she was sure her arms and legs weren’t cracked and could move, her focus was on beelining off the tree to find Astra.

There was no sign of teal tiefling around her in the tree, and he’d gone down alongside her. Either her failed attempt to carry them to safety had pinged her in a completely different direction, or he was on the ground. Whistling loudly, she looked up and waved down her familiar, the Ospeian hunting bird flitting through the leaves in a blink of blue and creamy down feathers. 

“Go look for Astra”, she told Rana. “Tell me if you find him.” Rana ruffled up her feathers, gave Elyse an indignant chirp and then looked down. “...He’s below me, isn’t he?” Another chirp, and then Rana was descending down again. Elyse huffed, muttered to herself, and then began the slow process of untangling herself from the branches and scooting her way down. It was tough at times, having to judge if a branch would hold her weight. No benefit to helping Astra if she fell out of a tree and broke her leg after surviving a cliffside tumble. Her fingernails scraped on the bark, she had to cling onto the trunk when a potential branch snapped underfoot. But she descended the same otherwise, like climbing down a mast with too many extra bits sticking out. 

She saw Astra by about a third of the way from the ground, and considered jumping. Heavily considered it until she reminded herself of the risk of broken limbs. But he was limp, sprawled out like a discarded toy, and the image cried out to her, made her bite her lip to focus herself on getting down faster, faster. Only when she ran out of branches did she toss herself down, rolling on impact to get to her feet and run, sprinting to Astra’s side. 

There were numerous cut marks on his skin, tiny shards of stone still in the cuts from where he’d hit the cliffside. His arms were badly scraped too, almost worse than her own. More importantly, there was a bend in his left arm that was not supposed to be there and Elyse felt her stomach turn at the sight. His eyes were closed, unconscious, and when his chest rose and fell it was accompanied by wheezing instead of soft breathing. 

“Astra?”, she whispered. “Astra, wake up.” No response. She patted his face rapidly. No response. Just the wheezing. And now she had his blood on her fingers. Elyse fisted her hands into her hair and tried not to scream her anxiety. They were off the path, in the middle of unmanaged woods where practically anything could be hiding. Two injured wanderers stood little chance hiding out here in the open. She needed to find a shelter, or find a way up. But even if she found a way up, would she be able to carry Astra all by herself? Sure she was strong, but he had height on his side, and his injuries were so bad that she dared not consider carrying him too far until he was awake and his injuries cared for. 

“Okay. Rana, find us a cave, or a hut. Somewhere I can put him”, she told her familiar. The bird bobbed her head, chirped softly as she took off and vanished among the trees into the woodland. Elyse could have followed through her eyes, but she was more concerned for Astra in this moment. Digging into her satchel, she pulled out some of the light medical supplies she had - bandages, towels to wipe the skin. Her first goal was to clean those cuts, make sure she brushed out any fragments of rock that may have gotten broken off in there. That was easy work at least, dampening a towel using her waterskein and beginning to wipe him down. It was only that there were so many - his arms, his shoulders, some parts of his shirt were torn to reveal more cuts there, even on his thighs. She cleaned them all, one by one, until all her towels were pink and she wished Astra were awake to cast Prestidigitation at least. Or Healing Word for them both. She wiped a towel over his forehead, and watched his eyes shift under the eyelids but barely respond otherwise. 

A soft hoot caught her attention. Glancing up, Elyse saw an owl perched on a rotted tree trunk, a snowy white that blinked blue eyes and hooted again. Just then an iridescent hummingbird flitted up, hovering above Astra’s chest. 

“Sariel. Boblem”, Elyse breathed out, recognising the familiars. “If you’re listening, I’m okay, I’m fine. Please, we need you to get down here, Astra’s very injured and I don’t know if I can get him back up onto the path myself. We’ll find somewhere to take shelter, and wait for you there.” Neither familiar responded, but Elyse hoped her message had been heard. Please, she whispered, please come down. Please help Astra. 

Now though, she needed to move. Hearing Rana’s shrill cry, she watched the falcon crest back over her head before landing on a branch in the direction it had come from, beginning to hop from tree to tree. She knew a ‘follow me’ gesture when she saw it. Looking down to Astra, she took her sash and began to carefully wind it around his broken arm, trying to keep it settled so when she picked him up it wouldn’t move too much. Once sure that it was fixed, she crouched down, lifted his torso off the ground with an arm around his shoulders. His head drooped forward, resting into the crook of her neck, and she had to breathe in sharply to keep herself from crying. He was fine. He was going to be fine, damn her. She scooped down under his legs, braced her back, and lifted with her knees.

The sound Astra made as his body was moved was like an injured animal. His shoulders shuddered, the keening sound ripping out from him. Barely any words could be formed, only the notion of pain. 

“I’m sorry”, Elyse whispered, choking on her own words. “I’m sorry, I need to move you. It’s not safe here.” Still Astra cried out. She had to be quietly thankful that he didn’t thrash, otherwise she may have dropped him and there would have been worse damage and she dared not think further. She just put one step in front of the other, eyes up to follow Rana. At some point Astra stopped crying, his voice coming out just a wheezing and faint sob every now and again. That was for the better, Elyse told herself. Although no, no it wasn’t. None of this was better. None of this was good. If she hadn’t tossed herself after him, if she hadn’t tried to fucking fly with him, this mess wouldn’t have happened. Astra wouldn’t be unconscious with blood and tears streaming down his face. 

He wouldn’t be in her arms

He’d be broken alone on the valley floor.

Hissing through her teeth, she forged ahead, walking fast after Rana as she hopped from tree branch to branch. Quickly they reached the cliffside, sharply vertical down here on the valley floor, and along the side she saw what Rana had found - a crevice of some kind, a thin cave that could at least fit three people within and could definitely fit herself and Astra. 

“Thank you”, Elyse whispered to her familiar, who puffed her chest and chirped with pride.

Laying down her bedroll, Elyse laid Astra down over it, keeping his head propped up against her bag of holding as a makeshift pillow. Sariel’s owl and Boblem’s hummingbird flew in after them, the owl by Astra’s side and the hummingbird perched on his horn, peeping in concern. They wouldn’t be here for long, Elyse expected. Soon they would need to be summoned back or they would fade away, unlike her sweet Rana. But at least the others knew where they were, and knew they were mostly safe. She flopped down next to Astra, letting out a long breath of exhaustion.

“‘Lyse?” Astra’s faint voice jolted her from her brief respite. Those golden eyes were open, his head turning to look at her. “Everything hurts.”

“Astra.” Elyse wanted to hold him tight, hug him and reassure him he was going to be okay. But she resisted, settling instead for stroking his hair gently. “You took a tumble off the path. I followed after you, tried to get you to safety….we’re at the bottom of the valley right now. You’ve broken your arm.”

“....Oh”, Astra murmured hoarsely. 

“There might be other injuries too.” Broken ribs. Fractures. More bleeding (those cuts were starting to ooze again). Elyse shook her head rapidly to disperse the fears. “Did you have any healing spells prepared this morning?”

“....Need my lute”, Astra said quietly. And Elyse felt her heart drop. The lute was perfectly safe, miraculously survived the crash and tumble. But without a hand, Astra couldn’t play. If he couldn’t play, he couldn’t heal. The realisation was dawning on him too, his face wrinkling inwards as new tears began to streak down his cheeks.

“I’m useless”, he mumbled. “You’re hurt and I’m useless, I can’t heal you.”

“No, Astra”, Elyse cooed gently, her slow hair stroking returning. “You’re not useless. You’re injured. These things can’t be helped. We’re going to wait for the others and then Boblem or Sariel can heal you, and it’ll be fine.” Her words weren’t making good progress. His chest bounced in hiccups that echoed soft cries of pain, and Astra wept quietly. Sighing softly, Elyse curled up by his side and wound her fingers through those of his uninjured hand.

“It’s okay”, she told him. “I’m staying here with you. We’re going to be fine.” 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is bone setting detail in this chapter. To skip this, jump the section between 'Astra complied...' and '"I'm sorry", she whispered....'

The familiars couldn’t talk, which was the most irritating thing in this moment. What Elyse wouldn’t give to cradle Zip in her hands and hear Boblem’s reassuring voice coming out of that tiny beak, or listen to the soft tones of Sariel from her snowy owl telling her that the party were on their way. She just had to wait and trust that they would find a safe way down and around to them in good time.

Time. How much time would it even take? They had started the journey early in the morning, and right now the limited sunlight entering the valley was taking on the dusky smoulder of sunset. If the others backtracked the way they’d come, then it could well be into the next day when they managed to make it to Elyse’s hidden nook. Not to mention they could run into danger in the woods, or get attacked by something else (they had a  _ blue dragon _ drop on them while on a river, for fuck’s sake). All of this mess because of her -  _ stop it _ , she could call herself an idiot when Astra wasn’t wheezing. Turning to the side to look him over, she placed a hand over his forehead. Warm. Too warm, even for a tiefling (They tended to run warm anyway, right? That was what she’d been told before), a clamminess to his skin. 

“You might be getting a fever”, she told him quietly. “Your broken arm isn’t doing you any good.” 

“‘S fine”, Astra mumbled. “We can wait for Sariel or Boblem to heal it. It’s not like I can do it.” His eyes kept staring up at the cave ceiling, unwilling to look down and see the state his body was in. Too much pain, lancing throughout his limbs and torso. He shuddered in an exhale, and then shivered too. Elyse kept stroking through his hair, trying to think what she could do.

Keep him warm. Keep him hydrated. Keep him company. Keep the fever from surging. It had to be from the broken bone, she knew that, but she certainly couldn’t wish to lay her hands on him and have the bone be set and healed in a moment. 

Wait. There was something she could do. It would be horribly nasty but it was a damn sight better than having inflammation kick off too quickly. Getting up, she moved around to Astra’s more injured side. A few cuts were refusing to clot up still, oozing dark red, and she added cleaning those to her mental ‘take care of Astra’ list. Looking over the arm, she could definitely pinpoint where the break was - the skin was disformed over a certain spot on the upper arm, like something pressing outward, and the teal skin was a mess of purple bruises. She chewed on her lower lip, thinking, processing, biting down the swell of nausea at the sight. Then she took the sash from her belt, checked the length of it between her hands. Definitely not short, edging the ‘too long’ but it could be managed. Next was a stick - that was easy enough to handle, asking Rana to fly into the forest and the falcon coming back with a foul look and a sturdy stick it could just about carry. 

“I’m going to set the bone”, she told Astra. “It’s going to hurt like hell, but if we leave it too long then it’s going to get a lot worse and we can have you getting too sick before the others turn up. They can heal wounds but an infection is a whole other story.” 

Astra groaned quietly, turning his head to face her.

“Set the bone?”, he echoed back, and then grimaced. “Oh, I don’t like that. Don’t like it at all.”

“Had a broken bone before?”, Elyse asked, a brief blip of curiosity mixed with hoping to distract Astra (in an odd but potential manner).

“Yeah. Fell out of a tree plenty times, one time I really hurt my leg”, Astra began to recount, looking back up at the ceiling. “It was okay though, Mam came up to me and healed me up just fine-” He made a muffled noise of surprise when Elyse pressed a rag of cloth to his lips.

“Please bite down on this”, she told him. “It’s going to be a lot worse than your leg.” 

Astra complied, giving her a worried look as he bit down on the cloth between his teeth, before going back to staring at the ceiling. 

Elyse pushed the arm into a straight line. Good for her, she could feel when the bone went back into alignment, she could set the stick next to his arm immediately and begin binding the splint into place. Unfortunately it was still a bone moving around under skin and muscle. And Astra’s scream was still furiously loud through the gag. His legs kicked out, nearly booting into Rana, and his tail thrashed with enough violence to dislodge pebbles from the ground. His other hand, balled into a fist, slammed down in the stone floor with the desperation of a flailing, drowning man. Elyse kept biting on her lip as he kept on screaming, tears rolling down his cheeks. 

“I’m sorry”, she whispered. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” Tying a knot into place, she placed the splinted arm across Astra’s heaving chest. Golden eyes fixed on her, glinting from tears, a whimper echoing up his throat as she removed the cloth from his mouth. Judging from the rips in the fabric, she was much happier for the cloth to have been damaged than his tongue. She continued to murmur soothing words to him, her forehead to his and stroking his cheek as his breathing lessened into something less on the edge of a panic attack. Still wheezing, still that awful wheezing. 

“‘Lyse”, he whispered.

“Yes?”

“It hurts.”

“I know, Astra. I know. I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t…” Elyse blinked in surprise when she felt fingers on her cheek now, glancing up to see his unbroken arm up and his hand comforting against her face. There were new tears in the skin, injuries from punching the floor. 

“Don’t be sorry”, Astra kept whispering. “You’re just trying to help. You’re just helping me.”

“It hurt you though.”

“Everything fucking hurts right now, stormcloud.” Astra let out a frail laugh, even as new tears started rolling down his face. “You’re helping me. We’re going to get through this.”

“I’m supposed to be the one comforting you”, Elyse muttered, managing a wane smile to match Astra’s. He breathed out a sigh, leaning back and closing his eyes.

“Don’t leave me”, he murmured. 

“Of course not”, she told him. 

When Elyse woke up (why had she been sleeping, why?!), the sun was gone and the air was freezing cold. Astra was shivering constantly, eyes shifting under closed lids as he seemed to dream and whimper within his dream. Everything seemed sharper - the frost, the stones underneath them, every crack of twig or rustling leaf outside the cave. Cussing angrily to herself, Elyse began to gather every scrap of roughage within the cave and just outside the entrance, building up a small fire. It was a risk to have light and heat in the wilderness, but she needed the warmth for Astra, if nothing else. While she worked, she added her bedroll blanket to his to keep him warm, checking his temperature as she did. No fever heat. Thank fuck. 

It only took a few sparks to get the dry leaves crackling, and soon a decent campfire was burning within the cave. Crouching down next to it, Elyse rubbed her hands from numbness to some sort of sensation, grimacing as pins-and-needles swept through her fingers. Soon though she felt another discomforting sensation - her stomach growling hungrily. She must have napped through dinner time, and now her body demanded nutrients. Beginning to dig into her bag, she found the rations they’d packed and the carefully packed dumplings, bread rolls and chunks of cheese that Boblem had prepared for everyone that morning. Just smelling the dumplings made Elyse think of Boblem, his expression of deep concern, gentle words and a hand on her shoulder.

Stop it, she told herself. They would find them. They would be desperate to get Astra back, get him healed up properly. Rubbing at her eyes, she took a seat next to Astra and jostled his shoulder gently. Watching Astra wake up was too slow for her liking, the pause between his breath hitching and his eyes opening stretching into minutes in her mind. But he managed to focus on her, and kept focusing despite the blinking.

“You must be hungry”, Elyse told him, taking out one of the bread rolls. “C’mon, we need to eat.” Ripping it in half, she offered one of the halves over to Astra. He stared at it, slowly processing, before beginning to slowly ease himself upright. 

“Oh, careful! Careful!” Her hands found his sides and shoulders, kept him steady and took his weight as he pushed up on his uninjured hand, until he was leaning up against the wall instead of curled up below. Once there, he took the offered half of roll, taking small nibbles from the downy bread. Elyse joined him, taking more ravenous bites as her hunger properly set in. 

“....You think they’re going to take long?”, Astra asked.

“Not that long. They’re going to be worried about you, they’ll want to get you back on your feet”, Elyse reassured him, and managed to catch the way he winced away. 

“I mean….I’m more worried about you”, he said quietly.

“What? Astra, you have a broken arm, you need the healing more than I do”, Elyse insisted.

“You’ve been going around with an open head wound, Elyse! And I can’t do anything to help you with that, whether it’s a concussion or there’s dirt in there or-” Astra choked quietly, and Elyse dropped herself, pressing a hand to his back. But it didn’t seem like any food had gotten stuck, more that his emotions had clogged up his throat.

“It’s okay.”

“No, no it’s not”, Astra muttered. They sat there in silence, eating their bread, staring at the crackling fire. Elyse curled up next to Astra on his uninjured side, resting her head on his shoulder. His arm shifted behind her, wrapped around her shoulders and pulled her tight. Softly, lightly, Astra’s voice rose in the lilting tones of Sylvan song. Despite the lack of his usual lute playing, it wasn’t any emptier for it, echoing within the cave to create harmonies of itself. Those lovely sounds of Astra’s song began to fill Elyse’s chest, bringing her more warmth than the fire itself could. A smile tugged her lips, the pull of rest beginning to creep on her eyelids. 

And then Astra stopped. His head turned, looking out from the cave, and Elyse began to hear it too. Brush rustling, twigs snapping, many footsteps beginning to approach rapidly. 

First out was Boblem, long legs carrying him just ahead of the party, a delighted yet relieved smile on his face. Sariel was quickly pushing past, calling out to Elyse and Astra. Then Cassian and Vanden, jostling each other to get their quicker as all four approached the cave.

“You’re okay! Well, you’re not okay-”

“We’re sorry it took so long! We had to find a path down again-”

“I managed to find a shortcut-”

“Your shortcut took us two hours and I still have thistles in my hair!”

Finally, Elyse found she could breathe again.


End file.
